Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown’s claims that his wife’s day spa business was worth R100-million have been rubbished by one of her former employees. A former senior Facets employee who had agreed to be named but later got cold feet, says the day spa was not making enough money to cover its monthly expenses and was being propped up by Brown.
Fidentia mastermind Arthur Brown and group accountant Graham Maddock are behind bars this week for Fidentia’s failure to account for more than R200-million belonging to the Transport Sector Training Education Authority. The Scorpions say they have not yet tackled the almost R700-million missing from the Living Hands Trust and expect to make “quite a few” more arrests.
Some South Africans are paying just six cents a call in interconnect fees to cellphone operators, while others are paying a whopping R1,25 a call. The six-cents-a-call applies in under-serviced areas, but major network operator Cell C says it can operate and make profits at six cents a call.
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/ 27 February 2007
To your average citizen, the chemical factory represents a dangerous place full of substances they don’t understand, but often they fail to realise the impact of those chemicals on their day-to-day lives. But it is important to demonstrate to people how many chemicals we deal with in the home.
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/ 23 February 2007
The Fidentia scandal looms large in South Africa, and its carnage is strewn as far as the eye can see. Fidentia’s ambitious sponsorship plan saw it sign agreements with the Boland Rugby Union, the Eastern Cape Warriors cricket franchise and Mvela Golden League football side Fidentia Rangers (formerly Manning Rangers).
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/ 22 February 2007
Fuel giant Sasol stands to pay additional taxes of hundreds of millions of rands annually if oil prices continue to remain at their present high levels. Details of the proposals put forward by the task team appointed to look into a windfall profits tax for the liquid fuels sector emerged in the budget announcement this week.
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/ 16 February 2007
Benefits paid to 50 000 widows and orphans of mineworkers killed in underground accidents, which have been threatened by the Fidentia scandal, are not guaranteed, Mineworkers Provident Fund chairperson William Leshilo revealed this week. This runs counter to claims by the National Union of Mineworkers that payouts will not be affected.
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/ 9 February 2007
The City of Cape Town is not alone in attempts to bring down the costs of its new 2010 World Cup stadium, according to the local organising committee, but it is definitely the most successful. Five new stadiums are to be built and five upgraded for 2010.
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/ 9 February 2007
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) squandered hundreds of thousands of rands pursuing disciplinary charges against CEO Jackie Manche — in defiance of advice from its own lawyer. A legal opinion drawn up for the regulator by advocate V Soni makes it clear that Icasa was advised as far back as last July to accept Manche’s settlement offer.
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/ 2 February 2007
The Development Bank of South Africa is at the forefront of an initiative to tackle the daunting lack of skills faced by underperforming municipalities. DBSA CEO Jeanette Nhlapo said its main drive is to make sure these troubled municipalities have access to engineers, project managers, financial experts and development planners so they can get their infrastructure development project up and running.